Aymeric Laporte has said Chelsea and Barcelona were keen when Manchester City first made an approach to sign him.
The centre-back came up through the ranks of Athletic Club’s youth system and made his way into their first team in 2012.
His rise at the Basque club caught several clubs’ attention, including Chelsea and Barca. In the end, he left them for Manchester City in January 2018 for a reported fee of €65m.
The Spain international played 180 matches for the Etihad club and was part of their treble winning squad during the 2022/23 season. He won a dozen trophies with them, including five league titles.
In August 2023, the Citizens sold the defender to Al-Nassr. Two years later, he returned to the Spanish club.
Guardiola key for Manchester City move
Aymeric Laporte was a guest on YouTube channel, El camino de Mario, to talk about his career. AS have relayed his comments. We focus on his time at Manchester City, where he also reveals about Chelsea and Barcelona’s interest.
The Manchester club appointed Pep Guardiola as their manager in 2016, and he arrived after a three-year spell at Bayern Munich.
The defender says the manager was keen on signing him in his first window with the club. When revealing this, he confirmed Chelsea and Barcelona wanting to sign him.
“When Guardiola was at Bayern, he already had the City project in mind. He called me and told me he was going to City, that I was a key player, and that he’d like me to partner with Stones,” he said.
“There were other clubs very interested: Barca and Chelsea. We made the decision, and at the end of the season, I went with the French U21s and suffered a serious ankle injury. Mentally, I wasn’t ready to go to England at that time; it seemed too far from my family.”
“I had doubts. One club backed out because of the injury, but the others kept going. We continued talking, and I realised I wasn’t ready, especially with the injury. I renewed my contract with the intention of staying, and if the opportunity arose later, I wanted Athletic Bilbao to benefit.”
“A year and a half later, they called me again. Athletic were having a mediocre season. People expected more from me. I was ready to go to another league, so I went to City. The rest is history.”
| Season | Appearances | Minutes | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | 13 | 1,167 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018/19 | 51 | 4,353 | 5 | 3 |
| 2019/20 | 20 | 1,497 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020/21 | 27 | 2,249 | 2 | 0 |
| 2021/22 | 44 | 3,756 | 4 | 0 |
| 2022/23 | 24 | 1,861 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023/24 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| City total | 180 | 14,894 | 12 | 3 |
Impact of Manchester City spell after exit
Aymeric Laporte left the Etihad in 2023. At that time, Athletic wanted to sign the 32-year-old, but he snubbed them for Al-Nassr, only to return to the club in 2025.
On Pep Guardiola, Laporte explained: “Tactically, he’s one of the best in football. In terms of interpersonal relationships, perhaps the worst.”
The central defender says he realised the impact of Manchester City’s success more after leaving the club.
“Incredible. When you leave, you realise even more just how incredible what’s been achieved over the years really is. Since I left, City isn’t what it used to be, and winning has become the norm,” he added.
